He had improved to a 1m41.371s shortly before the end of the third hour to lift himself above 10th-placed Pietro Fittipaldi, who caused a red flag when his Haas stopped on track with a suspected engine problem.

The 2007 world champion is not the only driver getting experience of his 2019 team early.

Formula 2 champion George Russell has appeared with Williams for the first time ahead of his graduation with the team next year.